A Brave New World
by Stixer111
Summary: Inomata Maria knows better than anyone that being disliked comes part and parcel of being a Boar. As far as she's concerned, friendship is off the table, and love even more so. It takes a little kindness and some blunt truths for her to get her head on straight.


_**A/N: Anonymous on tumblr asked: Love your oneshots! I'm Skylarium24 on Ao3 and I have a prompt for you if you want it. Would you be willing to do something similar to Kotarou's dream where everyone was some type of yokai or animal either in a modern or fantasy world?**_

 _ **Okay so I was really excited about this prompt, especially because I'm a huge fan of your work. If anyone hasn't read their fic, you really should check it out on AO3! I meant to write this way back but life got in the way! Anyway, have something Inomata focused, since I actually like her a lot and feels like she needs more attention. And of course with a side helping of everyone else thrown in.**_

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If she had had the capacity to be whimsical, Maria would describe her world as a forgotten library. Not an abandoned one, but one that people simply forgot over time. Not particularly large, but neat and ordered with information readily available at her fingertips, a little dark and so very, very quiet. She knew she wasn't the most approachable person. She was abrupt and hot headed and the tiny tusks that protruded slightly from the corners of her mouth as well as the often irritable swishing of her bristly tail gave her an air of perpetual annoyance. She was uptight, blunt, and had the tendency to snap at the slightest provocation. She knew this, and she knew that all of it kept people at a distance. She told herself that she preferred it that way. After all, nobody really liked a boar, not the way they liked cats, or dogs, or deer, mice, cows, or any of the other personalities that populated their world.

"Most people will be wary of you, Maria dear." Her mother had told her when she was younger. "You'll have to prove yourself. Be smarter. Be better."

She had failed to mention that being smarter and being better wasn't going to help her make friends.

And Maria was fine with it. Really. It didn't bother her at all.

XXX

At first she had been jealous of Kashima. He seemed to pull people in with his soft ears and doe eyes and tufted tail. Of course she knew it was more than that. Kashima was honest and gentle and had won the loyalty of a _wolf_ within the first week of transferring into their school and Maria knew she shouldn't be placing so much stock in their animal traits but Kamitani had always had a certain edge to him, so his unflinching loyalty to Kashima had thrown the entire school for a loop. Back when she first met Kashima she was burning with envy at his easy speech with Kamitani and the gaggle of children by his feet who listened to him with rapt attention, ears perked and tails twitching.

Then she had spoken to him properly, alone in the day care room and somehow he pulled her in too. And she wanted so badly to blame it on soft ears and gentle eyes, but she wasn't stupid. One thing that Inomata Maria hated was liars, and that included lying to herself.

Which was probably why the idea that she was in _love_ with Kashima never sat right with her. She knew, objectively, that he was good looking, and his personality was leaps and bounds better than hers. She grew flushed under his attention and would often follow his inquiries with panicked outbursts that ended up frightening the swarm of children that constantly surrounded him. But even with her heart hammering in her ears, the idea that this emotion was love just felt wrong. She was equally flustered when the kids asked something of her, and shouted equally loudly, equally irritably at Kamitani when he was being particularly dense. It took the whole incident with the love letter however, for her to realize once and for all that she wasn't in love with Kashima. Because that's when she properly met Ushimaru.

XXX

"Hey Inomata-san, is it okay if I start calling you Maria-chan?"

Those words were enough to send Maria into a panic that turned her face red and made her stomach swoop, and stutter out a denial which Ushimaaru had blithely ignored. She had asked to be called Yuki in return, but Maria just couldn't bring herself to do it.

At first Maria couldn't pinpoint what was different about her interactions with Ushiamru. She was her opposite really. Athletic where she was bookish, soft spoken where she was irritable, Ushimaru was the warm friendliness to Maria's cool indifference. And yet, when Maria was with her, her heart hammered in her throat and butterflies danced in her stomach. Whenever Ushimaru looked at her it was with excitement sparking in those soft calf eyes, her spotted ears tilted back and tail swishing with anticipation. Her intensity on court matched her sweetness off court, and every time she snuck a glance at Ushimaru during club activities Maria's heart began to race. Every time they went out with friends ( _friends!_ ) Maria's fingers itched to touch, and she'd find herself lost in her every expression.

With Ushimaru, even more than with Kashima, Maria felt accepted, maybe even loved. And for that she could deal with the fact the person she may or may not love was madly in love with someone else.

XXX

When Kashima and Kamitani started to date, Maria wasn't surprised. Actually if anything she was relieved because it once and for all put to rest any doubts that lingered in heart about the doe-eyed boy. Anyone with eyes could see that those two were meant for each other. It was visible in the way Kashima's eyes would light up and his face would split into a soft, fond grin whenever Kamitani was near, or the way Kamitani's ears would perk up infinitesimally when Kashima entered the room and the slight growl that would enter his voice when he felt that Kashima was threatened. If anything this development proved her feelings for Kashima were confused, that she had naively mistaken the thrill of being noticed and accepted as love. Ushimaru on the other hand was inconsolable.

Somehow Maria found herself dragged along to vent sessions with Fujioka-san and Ushimaru for the first week after the news dropped. There was no vindictiveness in Ushimaru's tone, the girl didn't have a mean bone in her, but it hurt hearing how much she obviously liked Kashima, to bear witness to feelings that wouldn't fade anytime soon, when she herself was thrown into confusion by the way Uhimaru's drooping ears made her feel. The worst part was that Ushimaru had expected her to be equally miserable, so she spent these lunches trying to look appropriately heartbroken while Fujioka-san shot speculative looks between them.

Weeks later, when Ushimaru had gotten over the tragedy to the extent to which she could go back into the day care room and play with the kids again, Fujioka-san had cornered Maria in the hallway, shoved a set of shoujo manga into her arms, and walked away, ignoring her protests that she did not have time to read such frivolous material.

Maria started reading the first volume that night.

XXX

"Kamitani-kun, do you think I'm a tsundre?"

Maria took childish pleasure in noticing that the question managed to startle the usually stoic boy, though the only indication was the slight twitch of his tail. However the question itself was embarrassing, and she could already feel herself turning red, so she pushed the emotion aside in favour of not meeting his eye when he turned to her.

"What?"

"D-do you think I'm a tsundre?" Once the question was out she refused to back down.

Kamitani paused for a second, considering.

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean I don't read a lot of that sort of manga, but you're probably a tsundre."

Maria buried her head in her hands. "So would it, maybe be more obvious to… the person I like… if I wasn't a tsundre?"

It was taking all of her willpower to even continue this line of questioning, and Kamitani himself looked like he wanted to be anywhere but standing in the middle of Morinomiya day care giving love advice to a highly embarrassed, somewhat hostile honour student. In hindsight Kashima would have probably been able to handle this better, but Kashima would have also handled the situation with kid gloves and that would have made her angrier. She turned her face towards Kamitani, willing herself to keep going, in the name of research if nothing else.

"Well I suppose so." Said Kamitani, clearing his throat. "I mean, it's probably best to speak to them properly and make everything clear. It spares you a lot of headache and confusion."

"Is that how it worked with you and Kashima-kun?"

"Yes." He replied, face finally gaining a scarlet tint.

Maria blinked at him, unable to believe he'd actually answered. It must be one of the benefits of that 'speaking your mind' policy he was speaking about. Kamitani shifted from foot to foot as though debating whether you say something more. Then he swished his tail in frustration and sighed.

"Just so you know, everything they say about boars, they say about wolves too for the most part. And it worked out fine for me."

Maria didn't know what shocked her more, how clearly he had voiced the worries running through her head or how his tone had taken on that same protective growl was usually in place when Kashima was being too hard on himself. Sometimes she forgot just how many friends she had picked up in the last year alone.

"Thank you, Kamitani-kun" she said, bowing deeply, feeling a flush creep up her neck, and escaping from the room as fast as she was able.

XXX

Maria confessed on a Friday afternoon as loudly and brashly as anything else she does, grabbing Ushimaru by the hand and pulling her far away from everyone else. Fujioka-san seemed to have figured out her plan, shooting her a mischievous smile and a thumbs-up on the way out that made her face turn scarlet. She pulled a confused Ushimaru out behind the school building before she stopped, both of them panting in the mid-afternoon sun. It suddenly struck her that this probably wasn't the optimum time to be confessing. The mangas she'd read all had dramatic confessions in the early morning or sunset, not just after lunch with the history test looming in the distance.

Maria froze, taking in the puzzled tilt of Ushimaru's head, the softness in her calf eyes and the way her ears were pricked back in interest, and she felt herself flush as her tail began to twitch irritably. Suddenly she wanted to be anywhere but there. She knew she could bluster some excuse that could explain exactly why she dragged the other girl out of her classroom with the entire class watching, and Ushimaru would take it in stride, but she had come so far and she'd ever be able to build this courage up again.

"Maria-chan?" asked Ushimaru quietly, breaker her out of her reverie "Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine. I needed to tell you something. Before I lose my nerve." She took in a deep breath. "Ushimaru-san, I like you, like really like you, more than friends I mean. I know that I'm just a stick in the mud, I can be annoying, and strict, and irritable, and honestly you're so… good, you have no real reason to accept these feelings, but I had to tell you outright." she paused, and snuck a glance at the girl in front of her, only to find Ushimaru frozen in place, and shocked expression painted on her face, and swallowed heavily. She could feel her tusks protruding a bit more than usual, which happened when she was stressed, and took extra care not to lisp around her words.

"I, I can understand if you no longer want to be friends after this, but please, say something?"

At this point she could no longer bring herself to look at Ushimaru, instead staring resolutely at the ground. A mistake. This was a mistake. No one wanted to be friends with a boar, let alone date one. She had to do better, she had to be better. She was going to lose one of her few friends just because she made an impulsive decision. Obviously Ushimaru was still hung up on Kashima, she should have taken that into account as well. Stupid stupid stupid-

Her downward spiral was cut off by a pair of gentle hands at her shoulders, and only then did Maria notice that she had started to shake, and that tears had begun pouring down her cheeks.

"Hey, Maria-chan." Ushimaru's voice was kind as tender fingers lifted her chin and wiped away the tears, "It's okay. I like you too, like more than a friend."

Maria made a disbelieving noise that was neither elegant nor dignified and which startled a giggle out of Ushimaru, but she could find no lie in those big brown eyes.

"But you like Kashima-kun."

"I _liked_ Kashima-kun. I sort of realized a while back that he was a good friend and nothing more, but I think I just didn't want to accept it." She flushed a bit, pushing her index fingers together sheepishly "Actually Ami helped me figure out that I'd moved on before I really knew it myself."

Ah. That would explain Fujioka-san's knowing looks. Maria must have still looked shocked and disbelieving, because Ushimaru reached out and carefully linked their fingers together, smiling, though her face was painted a bright red. Maria knew hers was equally bright as she felt a shiver go through her entire body at that tentative touch.

"So does this mean… you accept?" asked Maria, her voice trembling with uncertainty.

"Of course it does, silly."

"We still have to maintain the decorum of the academy, you know." Said Maria, and only a few weeks ago that statement would have been meant much more seriously. As it was she could barely contain the laugh the laugh that threatened to bubble up from deep in her chest.

"Oh certainly, we wouldn't want to do anything that goes against school rules, right Maria-chan?" Ushiamru's playful tone told Maria that she hadn't been quite as successful in hiding the elation she felt, and for once, she didn't really care.

"Does this mean you'll start calling me Yuki?"

"Absolutely not."

Not in school, at least. But there would be other places, and other chances. They went back to class, not holding hands, but sharing a bright laughter between them. If Maria had been a more whimsical person, she would have changed her definition of the world. Her library was no longer forgotten, and it hadn't been in a long time.

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 _ **A/N- Okay this one's a little short since I'm headed home tomorrow and still haven't packed. The animal thing has a very minor role to play in this story, sorry! But you know what Inomata needs a lot of love, and she's going to get it from me. I hope I got the characters right on this one. Plus I think this is the first time I'm writing wlw as the main pairing so any and all feedback is appreciated. As far as this world goes, everyone is born with some kind of animal characteristic, which in the olden days people thought described your personality. Nowadays people know that stereotyping is bs, but poor Inomata is a victim of circumstance. All animal characteristics were given based on the characters last names.**_

 _ **As always, I'm taking prompts. Find me on tumblr, I'm bards-against-hoomanity. . I won't write anything that ships an adult with a minor (I don't care what the age of consent is in Japan) or a similar age gap (i.e. teen with child), and I'm very uncomfortable writing smut, but anything else is good to go.**_


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